A REVIEW OF CESIUM THERMIONIC CONVERTERS WITH DEVELOPED EMITTER SURFACES

Studies from U.S. and Russian literature on experimental and theoretic al investigations of thermionic converters with developed emitter surf aces are reviewed and analyzed. Experimental data for these converters is compared with that for close-spaced and traditional Cs are convert ers. The former is most advantageous at low temperatures from 1300 to 1700 K, with the power gain increasing as the emitter temperature decr eases and/or its emission properties deteriorate. This power gain is a ttainable at a larger load voltage and significantly larger optimum in terelectrode gap size than traditional converters. Additional experime nts and mathematical modeling are needed to understand the physical pr ocesses taking place and assess the performance of thermionic converte rs with developed emitter surfaces as compared to traditional ones ope rating under identical conditions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.